Why does my GPT 3.5-Turbo API Python request hang indefinitely?

Based on common practices when experiencing hangs with HTTP requests in Python, it's likely that the issue is due to a missing timeout. The requests module by default will wait indefinitely for a response unless you specify a timeout. This means that if the API for any reason stops responding, your call will hang.

Below are some steps you can take to mitigate the issue:

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1. Set a Timeout

Specify a timeout when making your HTTP request. This will cause the request to raise a Timeout exception if the API doesn't respond within the specified period (e.g., 10 seconds):

PYTHONCopied
import requests

try:
    gpt_response = requests.post(
        'https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions',
        headers=headers,
        json=json_data,
        timeout=10  # Timeout in seconds
    )
    gpt_response.raise_for_status()
except requests.Timeout:
    print("The request timed out. Consider retrying or checking network conditions.")
except requests.RequestException as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
else:
    print(gpt_response.json())

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2. Implement Retry Logic

Sometimes transient network issues might cause a delay. Using a retry mechanism will automatically reattempt a failed request:

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import requests
from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter, Retry

session = requests.Session()
retries = Retry(total=3, backoff_factor=1, status_forcelist=[502, 503, 504])
session.mount('https://', HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retries))

try:
    gpt_response = session.post(
        'https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions',
        headers=headers,
        json=json_data,
        timeout=10
    )
    gpt_response.raise_for_status()
except requests.Timeout:
    print("The request timed out after multiple retries.")
except requests.RequestException as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
else:
    print(gpt_response.json())

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3. Check Network Conditions and API Health

• Ensure that your network is stable.
• On rare occasions, the OpenAI API might have temporary issues. Monitoring the OpenAI status page can help identify if there’s an ongoing problem.
• If you're behind a proxy or firewall, ensure that connections to the API endpoint are allowed.

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4. Use the Official OpenAI Python SDK

If you aren’t already, consider using the OpenAI Python SDK. It includes built-in handling for various issues such as rate limits and timeouts:

PYTHONCopied
import openai

openai.api_key = 'your-api-key'

try:
    completion = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
        model="gpt-4o",
        messages=[
            {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
            {"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}
        ],
        timeout=10  # You can also set timeout here if needed
    )
    print(completion)
except Exception as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")

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Using these strategies should help prevent your request from hanging indefinitely by ensuring that your python request fails gracefully when there's no response within a given window.